W E E K D AY E D I T I O N | J A N U A R Y 17-18 , 2 0 17 | T W I C E W E E K LY I N P R I N T | O U D A I LY. C O M
OUDAILY
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HONORING MLK
MCGUSTY’S PATH TO SCHOLARSHIP • 7
OU Athletics Department hosts celebration of equality
Black Campus Ministries hosts prayer walk to promote unity
REGAN STEPHENSON
ANNA BAUMAN
Students, faculty and administration gathered Monday to remember the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and to honor OU athletes who have been trailblazers for equality. The ceremony, which took place in Catlett Music Center’s Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall, opened with a video of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, followed by a tribute from Professor Emeritus George Henderson that reflected on the life and career of King, whom he called a friend. Henderson reflected on the lessons about kindness and equality that King taught him and others during the civil rights movement. King emphasized the importance of love as the ultimate weapon to achieve equality for future generations, Henderson said. “This is not the speech I’d prefer to give. I’d rather not eulogize to talk about my friend Martin Luther King Jr.,” Henderson said. “You don’t want to stand up and eulogize the man who gave you the best weapon you ever had: love.” Henderson said the social movements of the 1950s and 1960s would not have been a success without youth, specifically college students. “We could not have had a successful civil rights movement without college students,” Henderson said. Henderson ended with these words: “Be the leaders that you were born to be. Be the followers you were born to be. Be someone good.” Later, OU athletic director Joe Castiglione honored the achievements by Prentice Gautt, who was the first black man to play football at OU. “I don’t know how many people have a true understanding of the transformational man (Gautt) really was. ... This man had spent the most important and longest period of his life doing something for others,” Castiglione said. The ceremony also focused on other OU athletes who have been trailblazers for equality, like Teresa Turner, Wayman Tisdale, Patty Gasso and Eric Striker. Turner, one of the first women to receive an athletic scholarship at OU, described how every first makes it easier for the next generation to reach its potential. “My dream is that as a society, we not regress, but we continue to make progress in making sure that all people are respected, valued and given every opportunity to reach their full potential,” Turner said.
Students walked two-by-two around the South Oval Monday and murmured quiet prayers for racial reconciliation, unity and peace last night during the prayer walk hosted by InterVarsity’s Black Campus Ministries. About 40 students gathered near the Bizzell Memorial Library to honor and remember Martin Luther King Jr. by reading some of his writings and speeches. The group also prayed and sang two gospel hymns before filing down the South Oval in pairs. Skylar Thomas, biology junior and member of BCM, said the goal of the event was to promote peace and gather people from different walks of life. “Just to kick off the semester, we want to have positive, peaceful vibes and unity, especially with all this racial tension and everything, we wanted to start it off with a prayer walk,” Thomas said. Area director of InterVarsity Christopher Goree said he believes one ethnicity cannot achieve reconciliation alone. “To me it’s a very beautiful event where you see people coming together for reconciliation and justice,” Goree said. Goree said he prayed for the entire campus during the prayer walk. “I was praying for the campus as a whole to continue to keep doing the great work that they are doing and that the Lord would raise up faculty, staff, administrators that could have a real voice to reach out to all parts of campus,” Goree said. “They’re already doing that, but for that to be increased.” Black Campus Ministries is a small group of about eight members within InterVarsity whose goal is to promote fellowship for black Christian students on campus. “Seeing that it’s very few black people here, we want to just come together, fellowship together, grow in God together, encourage each other, that sort of thing,” Thomas said. Bryce Buchanan, computer science sophomore, attended the event and said he hoped to help bring about racial reconciliation in any way he could. “As a Christian, I feel like prayer really does, it does work,” Buchanan said. “This many people gathered here, praying and asking God to help us in ways that we can’t ever understand to mend bonds that were broken over many, many years of history.”
@regan_leanne
Regan Stephenson
regan.l.stephenson-1@ou.edu
@annabauman2
CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
Members of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Black Campus Ministries small group walk down the South Oval Monday. The event was hosted to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
SIANDHARA BONNET/THE DAILY
Professor Emeritus George Henderson speaks at the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration hosted by the OU Athletics department Monday in Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall.
Parking garage adds spots Five-story facility gives additional 1,221 spaces to valid permit holders ANNA BAUMAN @annabauman2
The new five-floor parking facility located on Jenkins Avenue opened Jan. 14. The garage will add 1,221 parking spaces that will be available to all valid permit holders. The first floor is open to faculty, staff and visitors, while the second through fifth floors are multi-purposed and can be used by anyone with a commuter, housing or faculty/staff parking pass. Parking Services employees will staff the garage, and signs will direct drivers to the proper floors. Vicky Holland, marketing manager for OU Parking and Transportation Services, said she thinks the new garage will
significantly improve the parking situation at OU. “I think it’s going to be a positive thing for everyone on campus,” Holland said. “It’s going to open up some of the other lots because people are going to want to park in the new garage.”
“I think it’s going to be a positive thing for everyone on campus.” VICKY HOLLAND, OU PARKING AND TRANSPORTATION SERVICES MARKETING MANAGER Holland said she does not think the garage will affect traffic on Jenkins Avenue or surrounding streets because there
are entrances and exits on both sides of the garage. The residential colleges located north of the garage will open in the fall, but Parking Services has not yet determined how this change will affect the availability of the garage, Holland said. “I would imagine it will be open to more than just the students who live there ... but at this point, I don’t know if the levels will change, and a couple levels will become housing and maybe a couple levels multipurpose,” Holland said. “I’m not aware of exactly what we’re going to do in the fall, I just know what we’re doing until then.” Ho l l a n d sa i d t h e Pa rk i ng Services office will also relocate to the first floor of the new garage in February. Anna Bauman
anna.m.bauman-1@ou.edu
CAITLYN EPES/THE DAILY
Black Campus Ministries members sing hymns near the William Bizzell statue Monday.
Anna Bauman
anna.m.bauman-1@ou.edu
NORMAN, OK: OU campus parking garages Campus building Elm garage Stadium garage Jenkins garage